By Scott Brinton
Calling his plan "bold," Pinto said he would like to see new fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools, as well as Merrick Avenue and Grand Avenue middle schools. Replacing the fields at all five schools could cost upward of $5 million, which would represent 4.6 percent of Bellmore-Merrick's roughly $107 million budget.
Pinto's proposal immediately led to heated debate among school board trustees, who appeared to be taken off guard by it, as well as among members of the audience. Roughly 75 to 100 people, including parents and students, had turned out to support Pinto's plan.
The seven board trustees beside Pinto did not say whether they would support the proposal. Several of them said they could not do so without seeing its specifics.
Trustees generally said that the proper time to consider such a proposal would be during the district's annual budget deliberations, which will begin in January and run through April. Board President Matthew Kuschner said the district must follow a process when allocating funds. "We just can't fill out a check," he said. His colleagues also said they could not commit to a $5 million plan without first knowing what the district's other facilities needs were.
The plan would have to be put to a public vote in the May budget election if the Board of Education were to agree to it.
subhed: Emergency situation?
Pinto and a number of parents said they believed the football fields were in such poor condition that immediate action was warranted. Many wondered what it would take to classify the fields' condition as an emergency. Central officials said they did not believe the state Department of Education would consider the fields an emergency.
Calling the fields an "embarrassment," Pinto said that most of the grass on the Calhoun field had disappeared by season's end this fall, leaving only dust. The Calhoun Homecoming game against Kennedy was played in the rain, and the field largely turned to mud, Pinto said.
Several parents and Calhoun athletes said Central fields have become nearly unplayable over the years because of compaction, the process by which soil hardens when trod on constantly. Many parents said they feared players would injure themselves on the fields.
subhed: What are the costs?
"It's a monumental task to grow grass," Pinto said, noting that 20 Long Island school districts have gone to synthetic-turf fields.
Synthetic turf is sometimes called Astroturf, referring to the Houston Astrodome, where synthetic turf was first used in the mid-1960s. At the time it was unforgiving when a player hit the ground, but in recent years it has become softer, closer to the feel of actual grass. It is essentially a giant plastic carpet, embedded with tiny, squishy pellets to add comfort when players fall to the ground. To prevent the field from becoming overheated and unplayable in the warmer months, a sprinkler system is needed to cool it down.
Premium synthetic-turf fields can cost as much as $1 million, with a $20,000 annual maintenance cost added in, according to Brad Fresenburg, a turf-grass expert at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources. Fresenburg said that with an eight- to 15-year life expectancy, a basic synthetic field could cost an average of nearly $66,000 a year, and a premium synthetic field $109,000 annually.
By comparison, Central District officials say they currently spend no more than $500 per field per year, including the cost of seeds and lime. Central fields are seeded twice annually.
Fresenburg said that sod is cheaper than synthetic turf, but not cheap. A basic sod field averages $33,500 annually, and a sand-cap sod field (whose base is primarily sand) runs close to $50,000. Sand-cap fields are softer than soil-based fields, because sand is more porous than clay-rich soil and thus is less prone to compaction.
Central officials dismiss sod fields, saying the sod would wear down nearly as quickly as planted grass. They note that up to 11 Central teams, including football, soccer and lacrosse squads, play on the Calhoun and Mepham football fields. The Kennedy boys' and girls' soccer teams have their own fields, but the Cougar football team shares a field with the lacrosse squad. In addition, Central phys. ed. classes and a number of youth-league teams use the fields. In the spring and fall, the fields are played on continuously nearly every day, from 8 a.m. to dusk, Central officials said.
Pinto said the district could take $850,000 from its $3.6 million reserve fund to get the field program started. By state law, he said, the district is allowed to keep only 2 percent of its annual budget in a reserve fund, meaning it should currently have no more than $2.1 million in an emergency account.
"We're not going to build our budget around Astroturf fields. ..." Tanenbaum said. "We have a number of capital projects planned at all of the schools." Tanenbaum did say he would consider the field proposal.
Trustee Janet Goller said the board would have to look at the district's entire financial picture before it could commit to the proposed fields. "We have to look at our English program, our facilities," she said. "We don't know what our state aid projection is going to be."
subhed: Parents' views
A number of parents, including the leadership of the Calhoun Sports Boosters Association, urged the board to consider synthetic fields. Parent Mike Murphy said, "If everyone analyzes the budget, they will find we make an outrageous investment -- and a good investment -- in athletics. Do it. You can do it."
Christine Mack, president of the North Merrick Community Association, said, "People are saying it's really an emergency."
And Anne Ruvolo, a trustee on the North Merrick Elementary Board of Education, said, "Please, work together. Get it done."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
